408 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



but it is a proof that there is room to say a little more on the 

 matter. 



Many seem to run away with the idea that there is something 

 very modern in the statements about the insect-eating plants, yet 

 with regard to some of them it is certainly not novel. For 

 instance, in referring to the common Sundew (Drosera rotundi- 

 folia), Dr. Withering records this statement from a correspondent : 

 " In August 1780, examining the Drosera in company with Mr. 

 Whately, on his inspecting some of the concentrated leaves we 

 observed a small insect or fly very closely imprisoned therein. 

 On Mr. Whately centrically pressing with a pin other leaves yet 

 in their natural and expanded form, we observed a remarkable, 

 sudden, and elastic spring of the leaves, so as to become inverted 

 upwards, and, as it were, encircling the pin, which evidently 

 showed the method by which the fly came into its embarrassed 

 situation." 



I have also a work on botany, published in America in 1804, 

 which gives an excellent plate of Dioncea muscipula, and refers 

 'at some length to its peculiarities in capturing flies. 



Popular attention was drawn to the subject by Sir Joseph 

 Hooker in his address before the British Association in 1874, and 

 this was followed by Mr. Darwin's work on insectivorous plants, 

 in which some most interesting experiments were recorded. 

 Thousands discovered for the first time that these plants con- 

 stituted some of the wonders of the vegetable kingdom, and began 

 to observe their peculiarities with the keenest interest. 



Like many others, feeling only partially convinced by what I 

 had read on the subject, I determined to try a few simple 

 experiments myself on somewhat similar lines to those previously 

 adopted. Dioncea muscipula was first taken in hand, and six 

 plants were placed in small pans of sphagnum and peat, in 

 exactly the same proportions and of the same character. They 

 were grown under identical conditions of heat, light, and 

 moisture, the only difference made being in the following points : 

 The framework of two square " cages " or " covers " was made 

 of stout wire, and this was covered with a fine gauze, which, while 

 excluding all insects, interfered in scarcely a perceptible degree 

 with the access of light. The " cages " were each sufficiently 

 large to cover two pans, allowing ample room for the growth of 

 the plants, and four of the Dionaeas were thus provided for, two 



